Spring is pretty much here. Old man winter was here a couple
of weeks ago with record lows for here in our area. With the passing
of the last storm the days have been sunny and warm. The weather
man says it’s the last of the cold for us this year. With the
temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s soon the panfish and bass will
be very active again. Now is the time to make sure our fly
collection is together, our skills are honed and ready for
action.
There are so many patterns that work here in the south for panfish
and bass and there is no way I would even attempt to name them all.
Looking at FAOL alone I have counted 311 patterns from the fly
archive and Al’s tying lessons who knows how many more are in
the “Old Flies and Stuff,” “From Canada” or the individual
articles from various contributors. A lot of the trout and
saltwater patterns work just as well for panfish and bass,
only changing the size of the pattern is necessary.
Another thing to remember is even though we do not use live
bait or chunk lures we still can learn a lot from those who
do. We have all heard the rule for warm water fly fishing,
bigger fly equals bigger fish. This is not always the case.
Every pro bass fishermen will tell you that when they are not
getting any hits then down sizing the lure works almost every
time. The same applies for flies also. For this reason carrying
various sizes of the same pattern can make a difference between
a productive and non-productive day.
Justin, (AKA Freebirds on the FAOL Bulletin Board), and myself
were fishing Brushy Creek one afternoon this last week with a nice 82 degree day with
no cloud cover. I noticed fish were rising and feeding on the
surface occasionally. There was a lot of activity as evidenced
by the “V” trails left by fish going about their business. I
was using a size 10 yellow foam spider and repeatedly cast to
rings and other disturbances caused by the fish. It was looking
pretty grim as I was getting no hits. I changed over to a Size
10 DH1 and still no hits. Finally I tied on a size 16 yellow
foam spider. This is a really small spider for these waters. I
laid the spider out into the current and WHAM!! Immediately I
was hit by a nice green perch. The next cast delivered a nice
looking sunfish and then the bass became interested. I took a
nice little Black Bass on that little size 16 spider. Several
fish later it was time to go home.
So many times I have read posts on the bulletin board from
someone who is new to the sport asking about what flies to
use for given fish of interest. The responses are numerous
and the flies are just as numerous. They all work for those
who post but not always in another part of the country. One
of the ways we find out whether a fly works in another area,
is through fly swaps. It works on this principle, let’s say 10
people participate. Each tie 10 flies of a chosen pattern. These
in turn are sent to the swap master who divides and redistributes
the 100 flies so each tier gets one of each of the other tiers
flies. This is a great way to see the variations of a fly tied
by people from across the nation including Canada and other
participating countries. Others meet through the FAOL site and
do one for one swaps. I have done this on occasions and have
added some very productive flies to my fly box from other tiers.
It’s almost like Christmas getting the packages in the mail and
opening them to check out the patterns. It’s also a great way
to meet other people and often end up as a lasting friendship.
Along these lines let me share a great fly for bass and the
larger bream. This is another fly I created and I call it the
“BulletHead Diver” This is a unique fly in that it is a surface
fly with a bill/lip which causes the fly to dive in each strip
returning to the surface during pauses. It’s noisy and has a
lot of great action. I gave this fly to Justin to try with me
on Brushy Creek. After a few casts and experimenting with the
flies’ action he received a good hard strike and while playing
the fish, the 6 pound leader broke. It was a nice bass and
almost landed. Bass 1, fly fisher 0, There will have to be
a rematch. Just before leaving the area we noticed the fly
floating in the pool and were lucky enough the retrieve it.
Until next time, Good Fishing! Spring is here!
The BulletHead Diver
Materials:
Hook: Size 8, 4X long.
Thread: Yellow G.
Tail/Body: Yellow Krystal Wing Flash, and E-Z Body Braid.
Head: White closed call foam 1/8 inch thick and E-Z Shape
Sparkle Body (Fluorescent Chartreuse).Eyes: Doll Eyes.
Lip: Clear plastic trimmed to shape (I use the plastic sheets
from report binders.)
Instructions:
- Lay a bed of thread then tie in Krystal Wing Flash from
the bend of the hook up to the eye, minus the same thickness
of the foam strip in step 2, whip finish and remove bobbin.
- Cut two strips of white foam 3/8 inch wide and about 2
inches long. Use Zap-a-Gap to glue the strips together.
- Cut a length of E-Z Braid no less than two thirds the hook shank length.
- Push the E-Z Braid over the body and anchor only at the hook
bend with the yellow thread, whip finish and remove bobbin.
- Use a bodkin or similar device and push through foam in center
from length and width.
- Push Foam onto hook to just behind the eye.
- Place Zap-a-Gap on inside area of foam and fold over top and
bottom of hook. Compress with your fingers until glue sets.
Usually just a few seconds.
- Trim foam to desired shape. I just taper the sides to the rear.
- Place a slit in the foam for the diving lip.
- Put a drop of Zap-a-Gap in the slit and push the lip tab
in to place. Cover head with E-Z Shape Sparkle Body. After the
fly dries, glue in eyes.
Fly is ready for fish. For a down-sized fly for such as bream
use size 12, 4x hooks, only one strip of foam about — inch wide
and not glued to another. ~ Hillfisher
Originally published c. January 8, 2010 on Fly Anglers Online by Hillfisher.